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/r/artificial is the largest subreddit dedicated to all issues related to Artificial Intelligence or AI. What does AI mean? Find out here!

Guidelines:

All submissions are moderated through “collaborative filtering” approach. To help better align content with the expectations of the audience and improve the quality of the subreddit, submissions that receive overall negative feedback may be removed.

Submissions should generally be about Artificial Intelligence and its applications. If you think your submission could be of interest to the community, feel free to post it.

Submission’s title should clearly indicate what the submission is about.

Try to avoid posting submissions that seem like a self-advertisement. Those usually contain clickbaity titles, speculations or overstatements.

If you want to advertise on /r/artificial, the best way is by doing an IAMA.

Consider doing a little research before asking a question to add more context. Providing more context usually leads to more insightful discussions.

Personal attacks will result in a cooling period of 7 days. Just don’t do this.

Getting started with Artificial Intelligence

The topic of Artificial Intelligence is very broad and there are many good learning resources available on the internet and in print.

However, to get started with Artificial Intelligence it’s enough to understand the following two books:

Even though AI is always in the news I believe that among "civilians" there’s no real understanding of what it means, and hence when they say they are "for" or "against" AI, I don’t know what that means. I assume people on this reddit are more well informed, so as a control I thought I would pose the question here too. I don’t want to provoke a long discussion or argument, I am just trying to take a read. Would you take less than 30 seconds to answer this: https://goo.gl/forms/i6I7S37GeOZMijWj1

p.s. I am not a frequent Reddit poster so I hope this kind of question is ok with this forum. (I know its NOT on Stackoverflow et al 🙂

Columbia Engineering researcher Sinisa Vukelic, Ph.D., has developed a new non-invasive approach for permanently correcting myopia (nearsightedness), replacing glasses and invasive corneal refractive surgery.* The non-surgical method uses a “femtosecond oscillator” — an ultrafast laser that delivers pulses of very low energy at high repetition rate to modify the tissue’s shape.

The method has fewer side effects and limitations than those seen in refractive surgeries, according to Vukelic. For instance, patients with thin corneas, dry eyes, and other abnormalities cannot undergo refractive surgery.** The study could lead to treatment for myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, and irregular astigmatism. So far, it’s shown promise in preclinical models.

“If we carefully tailor these changes, we can adjust the corneal curvature and thus change the refractive power of the eye,” says Vukelic. “This is a fundamental departure from the mainstream ultrafast laser treatment [such as LASIK] … and relies on the optical breakdown of the target materials and subsequent cavitation bubble formation.”

Personalized treatments and use on other collagen-rich tissues

Vukelic’s group plans to start clinical trials by the end of the year. They hope to predict corneal effects — how the cornea might deform if a small circle or an ellipse, for example. That would make it possible to personalize the treatment.

“What’s especially exciting is that our technique is not limited to ocular media — it can be used on other collagen-rich tissues,” Vukelic adds. “We’ve also been working with Professor Gerard Ateshian’s lab to treat early osteoarthritis, and the preliminary results are very, very encouraging. We think our non-invasive approach has the potential to open avenues to treat or repair collagenous tissue without causing tissue damage.”

* Nearsightedness, or myopia, is an increasing problem around the world. There are now twice as many people in the U.S. and Europe with this condition as there were 50 years ago, the researchers note. In East Asia, 70 to 90 percent of teenagers and young adults are nearsighted. By some estimates, about 2.5 billion of people across the globe may be affected by myopia by 2020. Eye glasses and contact lenses are simple solutions; a more permanent one is corneal refractive surgery. But, while vision correction surgery has a relatively high success rate, it is an invasive procedure, subject to post-surgical complications, and in rare cases permanent vision loss. In addition, laser-assisted vision correction surgeries such as laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) and photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) still use ablative technology, which can thin and in some cases weaken the cornea.

** Vukelic’s approach uses low-density plasma, which causes ionization of water molecules within the cornea. This ionization creates a reactive oxygen species (a type of unstable molecule that contains oxygen and that easily reacts with other molecules in a cell), which in turn interacts with the collagen fibrils to form chemical bonds, or crosslinks. This selective introduction of crosslinks induces changes in the mechanical properties of the treated corneal tissue. This ultimately results in changes in the overall macrostructure of the cornea, but avoids optical breakdown of the corneal tissue. Because the process is photochemical, it does not disrupt tissue and the induced changes remain stable.

Scientists at Newcastle University have created a proof-of-concept process to achieve the first 3D-printed human corneas (the cornea, the outermost layer of the human eye, has an important role in focusing vision).*

Stem cells (human corneal stromal cells) from a healthy donor’s cornea were mixed together with alginate and collagen** to create a “bio-ink” solution. Using a simple low-cost 3D bio-printer, the bio-ink was successfully extruded in concentric circles to form the shape of a human cornea in less than 10 minutes.

They also demonstrated that they could build a cornea to match a patient’s unique specifications, based on a scan of the patient’s eye.

The technique could be used in the future to ensure an unlimited supply of corneas, but it will be several years of testing before they could be used in transplants, according to the scientists.

* There is a significant shortage of corneas available to transplant, with 10 million people worldwide requiring surgery to prevent corneal blindness as a result of diseases such as trachoma, an infectious eye disorder. In addition, almost 5 million people suffer total blindness due to corneal scarring caused by burns, lacerations, abrasion or disease.

* This mixture keeps the stem cells alive, and it’s stiff enough to hold its shape but soft enough to be squeezed out of the nozzle of a 3D printer.

Columbia Engineering researcher Sinisa Vukelic, Ph.D., has developed a new non-invasive approach for permanently correcting myopia (nearsightedness), replacing glasses and invasive corneal refractive surgery.* The non-surgical method uses a “femtosecond oscillator” — an ultrafast laser that delivers pulses of very low energy at high repetition rate to modify the tissue’s shape.

The method has fewer side effects and limitations than those seen in refractive surgeries, according to Vukelic. For instance, patients with thin corneas, dry eyes, and other abnormalities cannot undergo refractive surgery.** The study could lead to treatment for myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, and irregular astigmatism. So far, it’s shown promise in preclinical models.

“If we carefully tailor these changes, we can adjust the corneal curvature and thus change the refractive power of the eye,” says Vukelic. “This is a fundamental departure from the mainstream ultrafast laser treatment [such as LASIK] … and relies on the optical breakdown of the target materials and subsequent cavitation bubble formation.”

Personalized treatments and use on other collagen-rich tissues

Vukelic’s group plans to start clinical trials by the end of the year. They hope to predict corneal effects — how the cornea might deform if a small circle or an ellipse, for example. That would make it possible to personalize the treatment.

“What’s especially exciting is that our technique is not limited to ocular media — it can be used on other collagen-rich tissues,” Vukelic adds. “We’ve also been working with Professor Gerard Ateshian’s lab to treat early osteoarthritis, and the preliminary results are very, very encouraging. We think our non-invasive approach has the potential to open avenues to treat or repair collagenous tissue without causing tissue damage.”

* Nearsightedness, or myopia, is an increasing problem around the world. There are now twice as many people in the U.S. and Europe with this condition as there were 50 years ago, the researchers note. In East Asia, 70 to 90 percent of teenagers and young adults are nearsighted. By some estimates, about 2.5 billion of people across the globe may be affected by myopia by 2020. Eye glasses and contact lenses are simple solutions; a more permanent one is corneal refractive surgery. But, while vision correction surgery has a relatively high success rate, it is an invasive procedure, subject to post-surgical complications, and in rare cases permanent vision loss. In addition, laser-assisted vision correction surgeries such as laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) and photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) still use ablative technology, which can thin and in some cases weaken the cornea.

** Vukelic’s approach uses low-density plasma, which causes ionization of water molecules within the cornea. This ionization creates a reactive oxygen species (a type of unstable molecule that contains oxygen and that easily reacts with other molecules in a cell), which in turn interacts with the collagen fibrils to form chemical bonds, or crosslinks. This selective introduction of crosslinks induces changes in the mechanical properties of the treated corneal tissue. This ultimately results in changes in the overall macrostructure of the cornea, but avoids optical breakdown of the corneal tissue. Because the process is photochemical, it does not disrupt tissue and the induced changes remain stable.